Stamp Duty

Hello,

I'm buying a new apartment in dublin as my principle private resdience. I current live in a house which I purchased new in 2003 therefore had no stamp duty. I intend to keep this property. Someone mentioned to me that provided I don't rent it prior to owning it for 5 years, that I'm not liable for stamp duty, is this correct?

Many thanks,

GBG

That is correct. Once you don't rent out the former PPR in the first 5 years of ownership then no SD clawback applies.

What are you going to do with your existing property till 2008? Revenue may raise an eyebrow at this sort of scenario.

You can't have 2 PPRs. In the normal course of events there is no stamp duty clawback if you sell the property within five years but if you rent it then clawback applies. However, I'm sure there is a proviso that the property remain your PPR for the full five years i.e. cannot be left empty while you move on to another PPR.

Thanks for that, that I'll save me a few bob even if its left empty for a while.

GBG

It's possible that you will end up with the worst of both worlds. Revenue may simply not believe you when you say the property is unoccupied during that period and that you were taking cash in hand. You have to proove your innocence, not the other way round. I guess if you leave it empty it may be worth your while to get non essential utilities cut off and ensure there's no power hungry appliances left plugged (empty fridges use electricity) so you can proove the place was empty for the period.

I think a problem might arise with Revenue's definition of a first time buyer.

www.revenue.ie

Who is a first time buyer?
A first time buyer is a person, (or, where there is more than one buyer, each of such persons):

• who has not on any previous occasion, either individually or jointly, purchased or built on his/her own behalf a house (in Ireland or abroad) and
• where the property purchased is occupied by the purchaser, or a person on his behalf, as his/her only or principal place of residence and
• where no rent, other than rent under the rent-a-room-scheme, is derived from the property for five years after the date of the current purchase.

Click to expand...

Although clawback is only ever mentioned in regard to renting out the property, the exemption is given based on the criteria above for a first time buyer. I would definitely check this out further or as Howitzer says, it could prove to be a very expensive punt.